Abstract:

Systems and methods for displaying messages to a user, the messages having
different levels of security, are provided herein. One method of
displaying to a user messages having different levels of security
includes receiving a message over a network includes examining an
attribute of the message to determine a security-related level associated
with the message. A visual indication for display to a device user is
generated by the device. Such visual indication is indicative of the
determined security-related level, and is configured to be visible during
scrolling through a majority of the message text.

Claims:

1. A method for operation upon a data processing device for handling
messages with different levels of security, comprising:examining an
attribute of a message received over a network in order to determine a
security-related level associated with the message;generating a visual
indication for display to a device user that is indicative of the
determined security-related level;wherein the generated visual indication
is configured to be visible during a scrolling through of a majority of
the text associated with the message;wherein the generated visual
indication is applied to a display portion for presenting a body of the
text associated with the message;wherein the generated visual indication
is configured to be displayed throughout with the majority of the text.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the device is a wireless mobile
communications device that receives messages over a wireless
communication network.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein a security-related level includes at
least a security type selected from the group of a confidential
security-related level, sensitive security-related level, secret
security-related level, and unrestricted security-related level.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein a first visual indicator generated for a
first security type is visually different than a second visual indicator
generated for a second security type.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the step of generating of the visual
indicator is selected from the following group of visual indicators:
changing a non-view-obstructing background of a device display to
indicate the security-related level associated with a message; changing a
background pattern of the device display to include a series of stripes
whose intensity varies over time; changing a font size of the message
text to indicate the security-related level associated with the message;
and combination thereof.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein a first message is provided to the
device from a first network, wherein a second message is provided to the
device from a second network, wherein the first and second networks have
different security degrees, wherein the examined message attribute is the
network that provided the message, wherein the visual indication is
indicative of the degree of security associated with the network which
provided the message to the device.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein a first message is provided to the
device from a first server, wherein a second message is provided to the
device from a second server, wherein the first and second servers have
different security degrees, wherein the examined message attribute is the
server that provided the message, wherein the visual indication is
indicative of the degree of security associated with the server which
provided the message to the device.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein a first message is provided to the
device from a first sender, wherein a second message is provided to the
device from a second sender, wherein identities of the first and second
senders have different security degrees, wherein the examined message
attribute includes sender identity, wherein the visual indication is
indicative of the degree of security associated with the sender of the
message to the device.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein information about the security-related
level of a message attribute is stored on a data store on the device and
update data is provided by an administrator over a data communication
link to the device, wherein the update data is used to update the
information stored on the device related to handling the security-related
level of the message attribute.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the administrator provides visual
indicator settings to the device, wherein the settings indicate what
visual characteristics are to be altered when handling messages from
different sources.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the administrator provides to multiple
devices owned by a company visual indicator settings to the device,
wherein the settings indicate what visual characteristics are to be
altered when handling messages from different sources.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the visual indication is generated
responsive to the content of a subject line associated with the message.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein multiple visual indicators are
generated for a message for display on device, such that the first visual
indicator is used to designate a security-related level associated with a
first message attribute and a second visual indicator is used to
designate a security-related level associated with a second message
attribute when the message is displayed to a user.

14. A data processing device for handling messages with different levels
of security, comprising:a receiver configured to receive a message via a
network;security logic instructions configured to examine an attribute of
the message to determine a security-related level associated with the
message; anduser interface logic instructions configured to generate a
visual indication for display to a device user and to be responsive to
the determined security-related level associated with the message, the
generated visual indication being configured to be visible during
scrolling through a majority of the message text;wherein the generated
visual indication is applied to a display portion for presenting a body
of the text associated with the message;wherein the generated visual
indication is configured to be displayed throughout with the majority of
the text.

15. The device of claim 14, wherein the data processing device is a
wireless mobile communications device that receives messages over a
wireless communication network.

16. The device of claim 14, wherein the security-related level includes at
least a security type selected from the group of: a confidential
security-related level, sensitive security-related level, secret
security-related level, and unrestricted security-related level.

17. The device of claim 14, wherein a first visual indicator generated for
a first security type is visually different than a second visual
indicator generated for a second security type.

18. The device of claim 17, wherein the visual indicator generated is
selected from the following group of visual indicators: changing
background of a device display to indicate the security-related level
associated with a message; changing a background pattern of the device
display to include a series of stripes whose intensity varies over time;
changing a font size of the message text to indicate the security-related
level associated with the message; and combination thereof.

19. The device of claim 14, wherein the visual indication is generated
responsive to the content of a subject line associated with the message.

20. The device of claim 14, wherein the security logic instructions are
configured to determine a security-related level associated with the
message responsive to at least an attribute selected from the group:an
originating network associated with the message, wherein different
networks are associated with different security degrees;a server from
which the message was received, wherein different servers are associated
with different security degrees; or,a sender associated with the message,
wherein different senders are associated with different security degrees.

21. The device of claim 14, wherein information about the security-related
level of a message attribute is stored on a data store on the device and
update data is provided by an administrator over a data communication
link to the device, wherein the update data is used to update the
information stored on the device related to handling the security-related
level of the message attribute.

22. The device of claim 21, wherein the administrator provides visual
indicator settings to the device, wherein the settings indicate what
visual characteristics are to be altered when handling messages from
different sources.

23. The device of claim 22, wherein the administrator provides to multiple
devices owned by a company visual indicator settings to the device,
wherein the settings indicate what visual characteristics are to be
altered when handling messages from different sources.

24. The device of claim 14, wherein multiple visual indicators are
generated for a message for display on device, such that the first visual
indicator is used to designate a security-related level associated with a
first message attribute and a second visual indicator is used to
designate a security-related level associated with a second message
attribute when the message is displayed to a user.

25. One or more computer readable media having software program code for
facilitating the handling of messages with different levels of security
at a data processing device, the software program code comprising:first
instructions for receiving a message via a network;second instructions
for examining an attribute of the message to determine a security-related
level associated with the message; andthird instructions for generating a
visual indication for display to a display associated with the data
processing device, the visual indication being generated responsive to
the determined security-related level associated with the message, and
being configured to be visible during scrolling through a majority of the
message text;wherein the generated visual indication is applied to a
display portion for presenting a body of the text associated with the
message;wherein the generated visual indication is configured to be
displayed throughout with the majority of the text;wherein the visual
indicator generated is selected from the following group of visual
indicators: changing background of a device display to indicate the
security-related level associated with a message; changing a background
pattern of the device display to include a series of stripes whose
intensity varies over time; changing a font size of the message text to
indicate the security-related level associated with the message; and
combination thereof.

Description:

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

[0001]This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser.
No. 11/066,406 filed on Feb. 25, 2005, entitled "MESSAGE SERVICE
INDICATION SYSTEM AND METHOD," the entirety of which is herein
incorporated by reference. This application claims the benefit of and
priority to, and incorporates by reference in its entirety for all
purposes, commonly assigned U.S. Provisional Application having Ser. No.
60/566,772, filed on Apr. 30, 2004, entitled "MESSAGE SERVICE INDICATION
SYSTEM AND METHOD."

BACKGROUND

[0002]1. Technical Field

[0003]The present invention relates generally to the field of
communications, and in particular to indicating message services on
computing devices.

[0004]2. Description of the Related Art

[0005]Some government agencies have multiple networks, each with different
degrees of security. Messages received in a top-security network are
typically more important than messages received in a non-secret network
and should be treated by the receiver of the message differently.

[0006]Government officials that have accounts set up in more than one
network would like to receive all of their e-mail messages on one mobile
device, not multiple mobile devices (i.e., one for each network they are
connected to). For this reason, they would like to easily and effectively
be able to determine, among other things, from which network or e-mail
server a message came. With such information, they are more likely to
treat the message properly from a security aspect.

[0007]One approach could include showing in the first field when viewing
the message which service the message is from. However, this field may
not be visible when the user first opens the message, and the user would
have to scroll to the top of the message, through all of the recipients,
to view service source information.

SUMMARY

[0008]In accordance with the teachings disclosed herein, systems and
methods are provided for displaying e-mail messages. As an example of a
system and method, messages are displayed to a user wherein a security
related level of the message is determined. A visual indication for
display to a device user is generated based upon the determined
security-related level. Such visual indication is configured to be
visible through a majority of text associated with the message.

[0009]As another example, a data processing device can be configured for
handling messages with different levels of security. A receiver can be
configured to be operable to receive a message via a network, and
security logic instructions can be configured to be operable to examine
an attribute of the message and to determine a security-related level
associated with the message. User interface logic instructions can
generate a visual indication for display to a device user responsive to
the determined security-related level associated with the message. The
generated visual indication can be configured to be visible during
scrolling through all or a majority of the message text.

[0010]As will be appreciated, the disclosed systems and methods are
capable of different embodiments, and their details are capable of
modifications in various respects. Accordingly, the drawings and
description set forth below are to be regarded as illustrative in nature
and not restrictive.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0011]FIG. 1 is an overview of an example communication system in which a
wireless communication device may be used.

[0012]FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a further example communication system
including multiple networks and multiple mobile communication devices.

[0014]FIG. 4 is a block diagram depicting a visual indication being based
upon the source of the message.

[0015]FIG. 5 is a block diagram depicting a visual indication being based
upon the security level of a network.

[0016]FIG. 6 is a block diagram depicting a visual indication being based
upon message sensitivity that is derived from words contained in a
received message.

[0017]FIG. 7 is a user interface screen that illustrates a visual
indicator being the background color.

[0018]FIG. 8 is a flowchart depicting an operational scenario for
displaying visual indicators to a user.

[0019]FIG. 9 is a block diagram depicting an IT (information technology)
administrator providing visual indicator criterion or settings to a
mobile device.

[0020]FIG. 10 is a flowchart depicting an operational scenario wherein a
visual indicator is generated for a user based upon whether the device
receives a message from a service that provided the IT policy settings to
the device.

[0021]FIG. 11 is a user interface screen illustrating that a visual
indicator can utilize different types of visual characteristics for
displaying the message.

[0022]FIG. 12 is a block diagram of an example mobile device.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0023]FIG. 1 is an overview of an example communication system in which a
wireless communication device may be used. One skilled in the art will
appreciate that there may be hundreds of different topologies, but the
system shown in FIG. 1 helps demonstrate the operation of the encoded
message processing systems and methods described in the present
application. There may also be many message senders and recipients. The
simple system shown in FIG. 1 is for illustrative purposes only, and
shows perhaps the most prevalent Internet e-mail environment where
security is not generally used.

[0025]An e-mail sender system 10 may, for example, be connected to an ISP
(Internet Service Provider) on which a user of the system 10 has an
account, located within a company, possibly connected to a local area
network (LAN), and connected to the Internet 20, or connected to the
Internet 20 through a large ASP (application service provider) such as
America Online (AOL). Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the
systems shown in FIG. 1 may instead be connected to a wide area network
(WAN) other than the Internet, although e-mail transfers are commonly
accomplished through Internet-connected arrangements as shown in FIG. 1.

[0026]The message server 40 may be implemented, for example, on a network
computer within the firewall of a corporation, a computer within an ISP
or ASP system or the like, and acts as the main interface for e-mail
exchange over the Internet 20. Although other messaging systems might not
require a message server system 40, a mobile device 100 configured for
receiving and possibly sending e-mail will normally be associated with an
account on a message server. Perhaps the two most common message servers
are Microsoft Exchange® and Lotus Domino®. These products are often
used in conjunction with Internet mail routers that route and deliver
mail. These intermediate components are not shown in FIG. 1, as they do
not directly play a role in the secure message processing described
below. Message servers such as server 40 typically extend beyond just
e-mail sending and receiving; they also include dynamic database storage
engines that have predefined database formats for data like calendars,
to-do lists, task lists, e-mail and documentation.

[0027]The wireless gateway 85 and infrastructure 90 provide a link between
the Internet 20 and wireless network 105. The wireless infrastructure 90
determines the most likely network for locating a given user and tracks
the user as they roam between countries or networks. A message is then
delivered to the mobile device 100 via wireless transmission, typically
at a radio frequency (RF), from a base station in the wireless network
105 to the mobile device 100. The particular network 105 may be virtually
any wireless network over which messages may be exchanged with a mobile
communication device.

[0028]As shown in FIG. 1, a composed e-mail message 15 is sent by the
e-mail sender 10, located somewhere on the Internet 20. This message 15
is normally fully in the clear and uses traditional Simple Mail Transfer
Protocol (SMTP), RFC822 headers and Multipurpose Internet Mail Extension
(MIME) body parts to define the format of the mail message. These
techniques are all well known to those skilled in the art. The message 15
arrives at the message server 40 and is normally stored in a message
store. Most known messaging systems support a so-called "pull" message
access scheme, wherein the mobile device 100 must request that stored
messages be forwarded by the message server to the mobile device 100.
Some systems provide for automatic routing of such messages which are
addressed using a specific e-mail address associated with the mobile
device 100. In a preferred embodiment described in further detail below,
messages addressed to a message server account associated with a host
system such as a home computer or office computer which belongs to the
user of a mobile device 100 are redirected from the message server 40 to
the mobile device 100 as they are received.

[0029]Regardless of the specific mechanism controlling the forwarding of
messages to the mobile device 100, the message 15, or possibly a
translated or reformatted version thereof, is sent to the wireless
gateway 85. The wireless infrastructure 90 includes a series of
connections to wireless network 105. These connections could be
Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN), Frame Relay or T1 connections
using the TCP/IP protocol used throughout the Internet. As used herein,
the term "wireless network" is intended to include three different types
of networks, those being (1) data-centric wireless networks, (2)
voice-centric wireless networks and (3) dual-mode networks that can
support both voice and data communications over the same physical base
stations. Combined dual-mode networks include, but are not limited to,
(1) Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) networks, (2) the Groupe Special
Mobile or the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) and the
General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) networks, and (3) future
third-generation (3G) networks like Enhanced Data-rates for Global
Evolution (EDGE) and Universal Mobile Telecommunications Systems (UMTS).
Some older examples of data-centric network include the Mobitex® Radio
Network and the DataTAC® Radio Network. Examples of older
voice-centric data networks include Personal Communication Systems (PCS)
networks like GSM, and TDMA systems.

[0030]FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a further example communication system
including multiple networks and multiple mobile communication devices.
The system of FIG. 2 is substantially similar to the FIG. 1 system, but
includes a host system 30, a redirection program 45, a mobile device
cradle 65, a wireless virtual private network (VPN) router 75, an
additional wireless network 110 and multiple mobile communication devices
100. As described above in conjunction with FIG. 1, FIG. 2 represents an
overview of a sample network topology. Although the encoded message
processing systems and methods described herein may be applied to
networks having many different topologies, the network of FIG. 2 is
useful in understanding an automatic e-mail redirection system mentioned
briefly above.

[0031]The central host system 30 will typically be a corporate office or
other LAN, but may instead be a home office computer or some other
private system where mail messages are being exchanged. Within the host
system 30 is the message server 40, running on some computer within the
firewall of the host system, that acts as the main interface for the host
system to exchange e-mail with the Internet 20. In the system of FIG. 2,
the redirection program 45 enables redirection of data items from the
server 40 to a mobile communication device 100. Although the redirection
program 45 is shown to reside on the same machine as the message server
40 for ease of presentation, there is no requirement that it must reside
on the message server. The redirection program 45 and the message server
40 are designed to co-operate and interact to allow the pushing of
information to mobile devices 100. In this installation, the redirection
program 45 takes confidential and non-confidential corporate information
for a specific user and redirects it out through the corporate firewall
to mobile devices 100. A more detailed description of the redirection
software 45 may be found in the commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 6,219,694
("the '694 patent"), entitled "System and Method for Pushing Information
From A Host System To A Mobile Data Communication Device Having A Shared
Electronic Address", and issued to the assignee of the instant
application on Apr. 17, 2001, which is hereby incorporated into the
present application by reference. This push technique may use a wireless
friendly encoding, compression and encryption technique to deliver all
information to a mobile device, thus effectively extending the security
firewall to include each mobile device 100 associated with the host
system 30.

[0032]As shown in FIG. 2, there may be many alternative paths for getting
information to the mobile device 100. One method for loading information
onto the mobile device 100 is through a port designated 50, using a
device cradle 65. This method tends to be useful for bulk information
updates often performed at initialization of a mobile device 100 with the
host system 30 or a computer 35 within the system 30. The other main
method for data exchange is over-the-air using wireless networks to
deliver the information. As shown in FIG. 2, this may be accomplished
through a wireless VPN router 75 or through a traditional Internet
connection 95 to a wireless gateway 85 and a wireless infrastructure 90,
as described above. The concept of a wireless VPN router 75 is new in the
wireless industry and implies that a VPN connection could be established
directly through a specific wireless network 110 to a mobile device 100.
The possibility of using a wireless VPN router 75 has only recently been
available and could be used when the new Internet Protocol (IP) Version 6
(IPV6) arrives into IP-based wireless networks. This new protocol will
provide enough IP addresses to dedicate an IP address to every mobile
device 100 and thus make it possible to push information to a mobile
device 100 at any time. A principal advantage of using this wireless VPN
router 75 is that it could be an off-the-shelf VPN component, thus it
would not require a separate wireless gateway 85 and wireless
infrastructure 90 to be used. A VPN connection would preferably be a
Transmission Control Protocol (TCP)/IP or User Datagram Protocol (UDP)/IP
connection to deliver the messages directly to the mobile device 100. If
a wireless VPN 75 is not available then a link 95 to the Internet 20 is
the most common connection mechanism available and has been described
above.

[0033]In the automatic redirection system of FIG. 2, a composed e-mail
message 15 leaving the e-mail sender 10 arrives at the message server 40
and is redirected by the redirection program 45 to the mobile device 100.
As this redirection takes place the message 15 is re-enveloped, as
indicated at 80, and a possibly proprietary compression and encryption
algorithm can then be applied to the original message 15. In this way,
messages being read on the mobile device 100 are no less secure than if
they were read on a desktop workstation such as 35 within the firewall.
All messages exchanged between the redirection program 45 and the mobile
device 100 preferably use this message repackaging technique. Another
goal of this outer envelope is to maintain the addressing information of
the original message except the sender's and the receiver's address. This
allows reply messages to reach the appropriate destination, and also
allows the "from" field to reflect the mobile user's desktop address.
Using the user's e-mail address from the mobile device 100 allows the
received message to appear as though the message originated from the
user's desktop system 35 rather than the mobile device 100.

[0034]With reference back to the port 50 and cradle 65 connectivity to the
mobile device 100, this connection path offers many advantages for
enabling one-time data exchange of large items. For those skilled in the
art of personal digital assistants (PDAs) and synchronization, the most
common data exchanged over this link is Personal Information Management
(PIM) data 55. When exchanged for the first time this data tends to be
large in quantity, bulky in nature and requires a large bandwidth to get
loaded onto the mobile device 100 where it can be used on the road. This
serial link may also be used for other purposes, including setting up a
private security key 111 such as an S/MIME or PGP specific private key,
the Certificate (Cert) of the user and their Certificate Revocation Lists
(CRLs) 60. The private key is preferably exchanged so that the desktop 35
and mobile device 100 share one personality and one method for accessing
all mail. The Cert and CRLs are normally exchanged over such a link
because they represent a large amount of the data that is required by the
device for S/MIME, PGP and other public key security methods.

[0035]FIG. 3 depicts a mobile device 100 receiving messages (202, 212,
222) from multiple networks (200, 210, 220). The networks (200, 210, 220)
can have different degrees of security. The mobile device 100 generates a
visual indication 230 for display to the device's user 240 that indicates
what degree of security or sensitivity is associated with a message.

[0036]For example, FIG. 4 illustrates that a visual indication 230 can be
based upon the source of the message. This could include generating the
visual indication 230 based upon the server from which the message was
sent. Accordingly, messages from servers indicated on the device as
secret or confidential will be displayed with a visual indication of
their secret or confidential nature. A basis for the visual indication
230 could also be the identity of the person who sent the message (e.g.,
the sender identified in the FROM portion of the message). Information
about the security/confidentiality nature or level of a server or sender
can be stored on the mobile device 100 in a data store. This information
can be updated on the mobile device 100 over a network or other data
communication link by an IT administrator.

[0037]As another example of visual indicators, FIG. 5 illustrates that a
visual indication 230 can be based upon the security level of a network.
If the first network 200 is a top-security network and the second network
210 is an unrestricted network, then messages from the first network 200
will have a different visual indication 230 than messages from the
unrestricted network 210. With the different visual indications 230,
messages received from a top-security network can more readily be
discerned by a user 240 as such, and thus more likely to be treated
properly by the recipient of the message.

[0038]FIG. 6 illustrates that a visual indication 230 can be based upon
message sensitivity that is derived from words contained in a received
message. A message can directly or indirectly indicate the message
sensitivity in a number of different ways, such as the subject line of
the message containing the term "TOP SECRET". As another example, the
body of the message may contain terms that are listed on the device 100
as indicating a top-secret nature. The list can be updated, such as by an
IT administrator.

[0039]FIG. 7 depicts a user interface 300 for display to a user of a
device. The user interface 300 contains as a visual indicator the
background color 302 of the interface 300. The background color 302 of
the message can be changed based upon the message source 310 and/or
message sensitivity 320 or other message security-related property. For
example, top-secret messages can have a red background whenever any part
of the message is displayed to the user, and non-secret messages can have
a white background. Government agents in the field could quickly be able
to tell no matter where they are in the message, which network the
message is from, and can react appropriately to the message. It should be
understood that such visual indicators are applicable to other
environments, such as a corporate environment wherein the color red could
be used to indicate a message from the corporate e-mail server, while a
different color can be used to indicate an employee's personal home email
account.

[0040]A visual indicator (e.g., background color, font size, etc.) could
be applied to only the body of the displayed message, or could be applied
to other parts of the message as well, such as the message "TO" and/or
"FROM" and/or "SUBJECT" header lines. The latter aspect effectively
prevents an attacker from confusing the recipient of a message as to the
message's true sensitivity level or source, if the attacker tries to
create a message body whose visual characteristics match or substantially
match the visual characteristics utilized by the mobile device to denote
message sensitivity, source, etc.

[0041]FIG. 8 depicts an operational scenario 400 for displaying visual
indicators to a user. At step 402, a device receives a message from a
network. At step 404, a security-related aspect of the received message
is determined, such as the message sensitivity level which is determined
at step 406.

[0042]Decision step 408 examines whether a visual indication is to be
displayed to a user based upon the one or more determined
security-related aspects associated with the received message. If a
visual indication is not to be generated as determined at decision step
408, then the message at step 410 is displayed normally (e.g., the
background color is not altered) before the operational scenario ends at
end block 414. However, if a visual indication is to be generated, step
412 changes one or more visual characteristics of the user screen when
the contents of the message are viewed. It should be understood that
similar to the other processing flows described herein, the steps and the
order of the steps in the flowchart described herein may be altered,
modified and/or augmented and still achieve the desired outcome. For
example, it should be understood that other visual indicators can be
provided to a user, including a mobile device 100 notifying the user
whether the message is insecure instead of secure.

[0043]FIG. 9 depicts an IT (information technology) administrator 500 (or
its agent) providing visual indicator criterion or settings 520 to a
mobile device 100. The settings 520 can indicate what visual
characteristics should be altered when handling messages from a
particular source and/or with a particular sensitivity level. The
settings can be stored in a data store located on the mobile device 100
for access by a software module that generates visual indicators as
disclosed herein.

[0044]The IT administrator 500 can specify visual indicator settings 520
to one or more devices. The settings 520 may be provided to the mobile
device 100 over a network (or other data connection mechanism) in order
to update the data store on the mobile device 100. The mobile device 100
can be pre-programmed with the settings and can be updated by the IT
administrator 500 or can have the initial settings provided on the mobile
device 100 by the IT administrator 500.

[0045]This provides, among other things, companies with the capability to
customize visual indicator settings to suit their needs. Also, an IT
administrator 500 can provide the same settings to all mobile devices of
the company or organization, thereby ensuring that company mobile devices
adhere to a consistent IT policy.

[0046]An IT policy can be enforced upon mobile devices in many ways, such
as through the approaches described in the following commonly assigned
United States patent application which is hereby incorporated by
reference: "System And Method Of Owner Control Of Electronic Devices"
(Ser. No. 10/732,132 filed on Dec. 10, 2003). This document illustrates
how a user of the mobile device can be prevented from altering or erasing
owner control information (e.g., visual indicator settings 520) specified
by an IT administrator 500.

[0047]FIG. 10 depicts an operational scenario 600 wherein a visual
indicator could be generated for a user based upon whether the device
receives a message from a service that provided the IT policy settings to
the device 100; in such a situation, the visual characteristic of the
display for the received message could be set to that of a higher
sensitivity level.

[0048]At step 602 of FIG. 10, a message is received by a device. Step 604
determines whether the message is from the same location as the server
that sent the IT policy settings to the device. If it has, then step 606
raises the message sensitivity level.

[0049]Decision step 608 examines whether a visual indication is to be
displayed to a user based upon the determined security-related aspects
associated with the received message. If a visual indication is not to be
generated as determined at decision step 608 then the message is
displayed normally at step 610 before the operational scenario ends at
end block 614. However, if a visual indication is to be generated, step
612 changes one or more visual characteristics of the user screen when
the contents of the message are viewed. The operational scenario ends at
end block 614.

[0050]The systems and methods disclosed herein are presented only by way
of example and are not meant to limit the scope of the invention. Other
variations of the systems and methods described above will be apparent to
those skilled in the art and as such are considered to be within the
scope of the invention. For example, a visual indicator can utilize many
different types of visual characteristics for displaying the message. As
shown in FIG. 11, this can include changing the background pattern 700
based upon the source of the message and/or some other visual
characteristic. Still further, the background pattern 700 can be a series
of stripes whose intensity can vary over time, thereby further raising
the awareness of the user as to the sensitivity level of the message.

[0051]Still further, multiple visual indicators can be used on the same
mobile device display, such as a first visual indication being used to
designate a first feature (e.g., message source) and a second visual
indication to designate a second feature (e.g., message sensitivity
level) when the message is displayed to a user.

[0052]As another example, the systems and methods disclosed herein may be
used with many different computers and devices, such as a personal
digital assistant (PDA) or a wireless mobile communications device that
is shown in FIG. 12. With reference to FIG. 12, the mobile device 100 is
a dual-mode mobile device and includes a transceiver 811, a
microprocessor 838, a display 822, non-volatile memory 824, random access
memory (RAM) 826, one or more auxiliary input/output (I/O) devices 828, a
serial port 830, a keyboard 832, a speaker 834, a microphone 836, a
short-range wireless communications sub-system 840, and other device
sub-systems 842.

[0053]The transceiver 811 includes a receiver 812, a transmitter 814,
antennas 816 and 818, one or more local oscillators 813, and a digital
signal processor (DSP) 820. The antennas 816 and 818 may be antenna
elements of a multiple-element antenna, and are preferably embedded
antennas. However, the systems and methods described herein are in no way
restricted to a particular type of antenna, or even to wireless
communication devices.

[0054]The mobile device 100 is preferably a two-way communication device
having voice and data communication capabilities. Thus, for example, the
mobile device 100 may communicate over a voice network, such as any of
the analog or digital cellular networks, and may also communicate over a
data network. The voice and data networks are depicted in FIG. 12 by the
communication tower 819. These voice and data networks may be separate
communication networks using separate infrastructure, such as base
stations, network controllers, etc., or they may be integrated into a
single wireless network.

[0055]The transceiver 811 is used to communicate with the network 819, and
includes the receiver 812, the transmitter 814, the one or more local
oscillators 813 and the DSP 820. The DSP 820 is used to send and receive
signals to and from the transceivers 816 and 818, and also provides
control information to the receiver 812 and the transmitter 814. If the
voice and data communications occur at a single frequency, or
closely-spaced sets of frequencies, then a single local oscillator 813
may be used in conjunction with the receiver 812 and the transmitter 814.
Alternatively, if different frequencies are utilized for voice
communications versus data communications for example, then a plurality
of local oscillators 813 can be used to generate a plurality of
frequencies corresponding to the voice and data networks 819.
Information, which includes both voice and data information, is
communicated to and from the transceiver 811 via a link between the DSP
820 and the microprocessor 838.

[0056]The detailed design of the transceiver 811, such as frequency band,
component selection, power level, etc., will be dependent upon the
communication network 819 in which the mobile device 100 is intended to
operate. For example, a mobile device 100 intended to operate in a North
American market may include a transceiver 811 designed to operate with
any of a variety of voice communication networks, such as the Mobitex or
DataTAC mobile data communication networks, AMPS, TDMA, CDMA, PCS, etc.,
whereas a mobile device 100 intended for use in Europe may be configured
to operate with the GPRS data communication network and the GSM voice
communication network. Other types of data and voice networks, both
separate and integrated, may also be utilized with a mobile device 100.

[0057]Depending upon the type of network or networks 819, the access
requirements for the mobile device 100 may also vary. For example, in the
Mobitex and DataTAC data networks, mobile devices are registered on the
network using a unique identification number associated with each mobile
device. In GPRS data networks, however, network access is associated with
a subscriber or user of a mobile device. A GPRS device typically requires
a subscriber identity module ("SIM"), which is required in order to
operate a mobile device on a GPRS network. Local or non-network
communication functions (if any) may be operable, without the SIM device,
but a mobile device will be unable to carry out any functions involving
communications over the data network 819, other than any legally required
operations, such as `911` emergency calling.

[0058]After any required network registration or activation procedures
have been completed, the mobile device 100 may the send and receive
communication signals, including both voice and data signals, over the
networks 819. Signals received by the antenna 816 from the communication
network 819 are routed to the receiver 812, which provides for signal
amplification, frequency down conversion, filtering, channel selection,
etc., and may also provide analog to digital conversion. Analog to
digital conversion of the received signal allows more complex
communication functions, such as digital demodulation and decoding to be
performed using the DSP 820. In a similar manner, signals to be
transmitted to the network 819 are processed, including modulation and
encoding, for example, by the DSP 820 and are then provided to the
transmitter 814 for digital to analog conversion, frequency up
conversion, filtering, amplification and transmission to the
communication network 819 via the antenna 818.

[0059]In addition to processing the communication signals, the DSP 820
also provides for transceiver control. For example, the gain levels
applied to communication signals in the receiver 812 and the transmitter
814 may be adaptively controlled through automatic gain control
algorithms implemented in the DSP 820. Other transceiver control
algorithms could also be implemented in the DSP 820 in order to provide
more sophisticated control of the transceiver 811.

[0060]The microprocessor 838 preferably manages and controls the overall
operation of the mobile device 100. Many types of microprocessors or
microcontrollers could be used here, or, alternatively, a single DSP 820
could be used to carry out the functions of the microprocessor 838.
Low-level communication functions, including at least data and voice
communications, are performed through the DSP 820 in the transceiver 811.
Other, high-level communication applications, such as a voice
communication application 824A, and a data communication application 824B
may be stored in the non-volatile memory 824 for execution by the
microprocessor 838. For example, the voice communication module 824A may
provide a high-level user interface operable to transmit and receive
voice calls between the mobile device 100 and a plurality of other voice
or dual-mode devices via the network 819. Similarly, the data
communication module 824B may provide a high-level user interface
operable for sending and receiving data, such as e-mail messages, files,
organizer information, short text messages, etc., between the mobile
device 100 and a plurality of other data devices via the networks 819.

[0061]The microprocessor 838 also interacts with other device subsystems,
such as the display 822, the RAM 826, the auxiliary input/output (I/O)
subsystems 828, the serial port 830, the keyboard 832, the speaker 834,
the microphone 836, the short-range communications subsystem 840 and any
other device subsystems generally designated as 842.

[0062]Some of the subsystems shown in FIG. 12 perform
communication-related functions, whereas other subsystems may provide
"resident" or on-device functions. Notably, some subsystems, such as the
keyboard 832 and the display 822 may be used for both
communication-related functions, such as entering a text message for
transmission over a data communication network, and device-resident
functions such as a calculator or task list or other PDA type functions.

[0063]Operating system software used by the microprocessor 838 is
preferably stored in a persistent store such as non-volatile memory 824.
The non-volatile memory 824 may be implemented, for example, as a Flash
memory component, or as battery backed-up RAM. In addition to the
operating system, which controls low-level functions of the mobile device
810, the non-volatile memory 824 includes a plurality of software modules
824A-824N that can be executed by the microprocessor 838 (and/or the DSP
820), including a voice communication module 824A, a data communication
module 824B, and a plurality of other operational modules 824N for
carrying out a plurality of other functions. These modules are executed
by the microprocessor 838 and provide a high-level interface between a
user and the mobile device 100. This interface typically includes a
graphical component provided through the display 822, and an input/output
component provided through the auxiliary I/O 828, keyboard 832, speaker
834, and microphone 836. The operating system, specific device
applications or modules, or parts thereof, may be temporarily loaded into
a volatile store, such as RAM 826 for faster operation. Moreover,
received communication signals may also be temporarily stored to RAM 826,
before permanently writing them to a file system located in a persistent
store such as the Flash memory 824.

[0064]An exemplary application module 824N that may be loaded onto the
mobile device 100 is a personal information manager (PIM) application
providing PDA functionality, such as calendar events, appointments, and
task items. This module 824N may also interact with the voice
communication module 824A for managing phone calls, voice mails, etc.,
and may also interact with the data communication module for managing
e-mail communications and other data transmissions. Alternatively, all of
the functionality of the voice communication module 824A and the data
communication module 824B may be integrated into the PIM module.

[0065]The non-volatile memory 824 preferably also provides a file system
to facilitate storage of PIM data items on the device. The PIM
application preferably includes the ability to send and receive data
items, either by itself, or in conjunction with the voice and data
communication modules 824A, 824B, via the wireless networks 819. The PIM
data items are preferably seamlessly integrated, synchronized and
updated, via the wireless networks 819, with a corresponding set of data
items stored or associated with a host computer system, thereby creating
a mirrored system for data items associated with a particular user.

[0066]Context objects representing at least partially decoded data items,
as well as fully decoded data items, are preferably stored on the mobile
device 100 in a volatile and non-persistent store such as the RAM 826.
Such information may instead be stored in the non-volatile memory 824,
for example, when storage intervals are relatively short, such that the
information is removed from memory soon after it is stored. However,
storage of this information in the RAM 826 or another volatile and
non-persistent store is preferred, in order to ensure that the
information is erased from memory when the mobile device 100 loses power.
This prevents an unauthorized party from obtaining any stored decoded or
partially decoded information by removing a memory chip from the mobile
device 100, for example.

[0067]The mobile device 100 may be manually synchronized with a host
system by placing the device 100 in an interface cradle, which couples
the serial port 830 of the mobile device 100 to the serial port of a
computer system or device. The serial port 830 may also be used to enable
a user to set preferences through an external device or software
application, or to download other application modules 824N for
installation. This wired download path may be used to load an encryption
key onto the device, which is a more secure method than exchanging
encryption information via the wireless network 819. Interfaces for other
wired download paths may be provided in the mobile device 100, in
addition to or instead of the serial port 830. For example, a USB port
would provide an interface to a similarly equipped personal computer.

[0068]Additional application modules 824N may be loaded onto the mobile
device 100 through the networks 819, through an auxiliary I/O subsystem
828, through the serial port 830, through the short-range communications
subsystem 840, or through any other suitable subsystem 842, and installed
by a user in the non-volatile memory 824 or RAM 826. Such flexibility in
application installation increases the functionality of the mobile device
100 and may provide enhanced on-device functions, communication-related
functions, or both. For example, secure communication applications may
enable electronic commerce functions and other such financial
transactions to be performed using the mobile device 100.

[0069]When the mobile device 100 is operating in a data communication
mode, a received signal, such as a text message or a web page download,
is processed by the transceiver module 811 and provided to the
microprocessor 838, which preferably further processes the received
signal in multiple stages as described above, for eventual output to the
display 822, or, alternatively, to an auxiliary I/O device 828. A user of
mobile device 100 may also compose data items, such as e-mail messages,
using the keyboard 832, which is preferably a complete alphanumeric
keyboard laid out in the QWERTY style, although other styles of complete
alphanumeric keyboards such as the known DVORAK style may also be used.
User input to the mobile device 100 is further enhanced with a plurality
of auxiliary I/O devices 828, which may include a thumbwheel input
device, a touchpad, a variety of switches, a rocker input switch, etc.
The composed data items input by the user may then be transmitted over
the communication networks 819 via the transceiver module 811.

[0070]When the mobile device 100 is operating in a voice communication
mode, the overall operation of the mobile device is substantially similar
to the data mode, except that received signals are preferably be output
to the speaker 834 and voice signals for transmission are generated by a
microphone 836. Alternative voice or audio I/O subsystems, such as a
voice message recording subsystem, may also be implemented on the mobile
device 100. Although voice or audio signal output is preferably
accomplished primarily through the speaker 834, the display 822 may also
be used to provide an indication of the identity of a calling party, the
duration of a voice call, or other voice call related information. For
example, the microprocessor 838, in conjunction with the voice
communication module and the operating system software, may detect the
caller identification information of an incoming voice call and display
it on the display 822.

[0071]A short-range communications subsystem 840 is also included in the
mobile device 100. The subsystem 840 may include an infrared device and
associated circuits and components, or a short-range RF communication
module such as a Bluetooth® module or an 802.11 module, for example,
to provide for communication with similarly-enabled systems and devices.
Those skilled in the art will appreciate that "Bluetooth" and "802.11"
refer to sets of specifications, available from the Institute of
Electrical and Electronics Engineers, relating to wireless personal area
networks and wireless local area networks, respectively.

[0072]The systems' and methods' data may be stored in one or more data
stores. The data stores can be of many different types of storage devices
and programming constructs, such as RAM, ROM, Flash memory, programming
data structures, programming variables, etc. It is noted that data
structures describe formats for use in organizing and storing data in
databases, programs, memory, or other computer-readable media for use by
a computer program.

[0073]The systems and methods may be provided on many different types of
computer-readable media including computer storage mechanisms (e.g.,
CD-ROM, diskette, RAM, flash memory, computer's hard drive, etc.) that
contain instructions for use in execution by a processor to perform the
methods' operations and implement the systems described herein.

[0074]The computer components, software modules, functions and data
structures described herein may be connected directly or indirectly to
each other in order to allow the flow of data needed for their
operations. It is also noted that a module or processor includes but is
not limited to a unit of code that performs a software operation, and can
be implemented for example as a subroutine unit of code, or as a software
function unit of code, or as an object (as in an object-oriented
paradigm), or as an applet, or in a computer script language, or as
another type of computer code.